Method and system for securing user identities and creating virtual users to enhance privacy on a communication network

ABSTRACT

A method of enabling a real entity to access a service on a communication network using a virtual entity, the method including the steps of establishing a user account including at least first data corresponding to the identity of the real entity and second data corresponding to the virtual entity and not identifying the real entity, storing the first and second data in a first database, linking between the first and second data in the first database, storing the second data at a second database, associating the second database with a communication network site, connecting the communication network site to the communication network, receiving the second data from an unidentified user on the communication network site, identifying the unidentified user as the virtual entity based on receiving the second data, and allowing the virtual entity to access the service.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This Application is a Continuation Application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/338,311, filed on Dec. 28, 2011, which is aContinuation Application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/178,725,filed on Jul. 24, 2008, which is a Continuation Application of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/814,451, filed on Mar. 22, 2001, issuedas U.S. Pat. No. 7,412,422, which claims the priority and benefit ofU.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/191,625, filed on Mar. 23,2000, entitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SECURING USER IDENTITIES ANDCREATING NETWORK VIRTUAL USERS TO ENHANCE PRIVACY ON A GLOBALCOMMUNICATION”, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated hereinby reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to enhancing user privacy on acommunication network, and more specifically to a method and system forsecuring user identities and creating virtual users to enhance privacyon a computer communication network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The Internet is a global computer communication network serving as apublic arena for hundreds of millions of users worldwide. According torecent studies, the Internet penetration in the United States hasreached 60 percent of the population. Currently, there is a steadygrowth in Internet use, in the number of Internet sites and in the sizeand complexity of website content. New sites are born and improved everyday, and new users join the Internet world.

The two main activities of Internet users are browsing the World WideWeb and using electronic mail (“e-mail”). Billions of email messages aresent and received every day via the World Wide Web (“Web”). Browsing theWeb includes many different activities, ranging from online research,leisure “surfing”, playing games, reading news, downloading anduploading files, experiencing multimedia presentations, online chats andinstant messaging, and engaging in electronic commerce.

Only a few years ago, when the Internet started penetrating people'severyday life, Internet users were still naive. Many users still believethat most of their online interactions are anonymous and private. Forexample, a user who visits a certain website may have the conceptionthat the website (or the people operating the website) has no knowledgeabout the user.

In the past few years, particularly in the last 2 years, Internet usershave experiencing a change in attitude. Users are awakening, one afterthe other, from the online anonymity dream, and into the cold realitythat websites, and the entities and people that operate websites,meticulously collect user data, maintain it, manage it, and use it formany commercial purposes. All this is happening, most of the time,without the user's knowledge and without user consent.

Today, it is almost a well-known fact that online anonymity and onlineprivacy are severely jeopardized. User's interactions are beingsystematically tracked and scrutinized. User's behavior and usagepatterns are closely studied. User's information is subject to carefuldata-mining processes. User's personal information—including user name,address, email address, age, and gender—is often transferred to thirdparties, exploited and sold.

According to latest studies, an overwhelming majority of Internet usersare concerned, or extremely concerned, about their online privacy, andmany of those users are also concerned about the practice of corporatewebsites gathering marketing information by tracking consumers' onlineactivity.

Recent studies indicate that efforts by various governments to protectonline privacy are inadequate. For example, research clearly indicatesthat many Internet sites worldwide fall woefully short of internationalstandards on data protection. Specifically, the research showed thatover two-thirds of sites collect personal information of users, andalmost all of those sites collect sufficient detail to identify andcontact the person. Moreover, the vast majority of sites give users nochoice about being on the site's own mailing list or having their namepassed on to affiliates or third parties.

Further, recent studies indicate that Internet users are concerned aboutonline security, and the majority of Internet users fear that sensitiveinformation such as credit card numbers, social security numbers,information about financial assets, and contact information iscompromised during communication with a website, even when communicatingwith generally trusted websites. According to these studies, nearly onequarter of online consumers do not purchase products or services online,citing fears about their credit card numbers being compromised andconcern that their personal information may be abused as the topreasons. These concerns have a direct influence on the engagement ofusers in electronic commerce. According to the studies, concernsrelating to online privacy and use of personal information result in asignificant reduction of the potential revenues of electronic commerce,as many consumers simply refrained from Web shopping.

The rise of e-commerce enables marketers to capture bits and pieces ofthe user's buying and Web surfing habits. Database technology enablesthose bits and pieces of user's daily life—the matrix of the user'spersonal world—to be assembled and repackaged in various ways and soldto anyone wanting to target the user for both legitimate and illegalmarketing purposes. These are examples of the negative aspects of thedigital age.

Transactions performed over the Internet are of particular concern,because an online transaction cannot be successfully completed withoutrevealing the user's identity, for billing purposes. Consumers in thetraditional economy have the option of buying and selling almostanything with complete anonymity, e.g., a person can walk into asupermarket, a drugstore, a retail store, pick up a product, pay incash, and physically carry the product, without providing anyidentifying details. The online shopping experience, however, isdifferent. Even the simplest online transaction usually requires thepurchaser to submit two types of information, namely, billinginformation, which including a full name, credit-card number,credit-card type and credit-card expiration date, and shippinginformation, which includes full name and full address to which thegoods are to be shipped by the online merchant. Therefore, anonymousonline shopping is impossible. The simple process of “buying for cash”is currently not available for Internet users.

This reality is problematic for a number of reasons. Most people have“nothing to hide”, yet it is disturbing that submission of personalinformation is required for the simplest transaction, such as purchasinga book or a compact disc. Further, many people do not have credit cards,for various reasons. Other people do have credit cards, but do not wishto use it on the Internet for security reasons. The current practice fortransacting over the Internet eliminates this group of users fromparticipation in electronic commerce.

Additionally, certain types of online transactions tend to triggerprivacy and anonymity concerns, for example, purchasing legalpornographic material, Internet activity relating to a sensitive medicalinformation, or purchases and research relating to analyzing businesscompetitors.

One existing solution for Internet privacy is the use a “proxy server”which links between the user's computer and websites visited by theuser. The entity behind the website cannot capture the user'sinformation; instead, the site may record only the identity of the proxyserver. Internet users may subscribe to such a proxy server, such as theservice available at Anonymizer.com®. It should be noted that the proxyservers such as Anonymizer® cannot guarantee its users perfectanonymity. One way in which anonymity can be compromised is through theuse of “helper applications” on the Internet, for example, media viewerssuch as Real Player®, which go around the proxy by establishing theirown direct net connections. Further, the technical standards underlyingthe Web are constantly changing, hence potentially creating new routesaround the Anonymizer®'s automatic link-rewriting mechanism.Nevertheless, research indicates that about five percent of Internetusers have used or are using a proxy server to surf the Internet. Itshould be further noted that existing proxy server solution do notaddress the problems discussed above relating to online transactions.These solutions only do not provide a solution to the problem ofwebsites requesting users to volunteer personal information to receiveservices.

Another existing solution for Internet privacy is web-based e-mail. MostInternet users have some form of a web-based email account. This freeservice is offered by numerous providers, for example Hotmail®,available from Microsoft, Inc. At a first glance, creating and usingweb-based email seems like a good solution, enabling the user to createa pseudo-anonymous e-mail address which may be used for communicatingwith entities that are not within the user's immediate circle ofacquaintances, such as online merchants. However, web-based email hasmany disadvantages. The user interface is often less comfortable,compared to that of a regular POP-based email client. Further, there arestrict limitations on the mailbox and attachments sizes. Additionally,web-based service is clearly not anonymous, because the email headerstill contains the IP address of the sender. Further, web-based e-mailaddresses are known to be the most common target for “junk” or “spam”e-mail, because various methods enable spammers to collect such emailaddresses and flood them with junk e-mail. Further, security breachesare common with web-based e-mail servers enable hackers to intercept anduse other people's web-based e-mail accounts. Thus, many usersperiodically open new web-based e-mail accounts to avoid securitybreaches and “spam”, resulting in a tedious and inconvenient use ofthose accounts. Further, web-based e-mail do services do not enableanonymous transactions on the Internet. Finally, web-based e-mailaccounts do not provide a solution for the problem of websitesrequesting users to volunteer personal information to receive services.

Existing efforts to secure people's identity on the Internet are notaimed at protecting privacy interests per se, but rather they are aimedat securing the identity of users' money interests (e.g., for thepurpose of credit card fraud protection), primarily to the benefit ofcorporations such as the credit card companies. Further, it is a factthat no matter how brilliantly secured, the transfer of Information onthe Internet is never completely safe, and the ability to interceptvital information is generally only a function of money. Moreimportantly, whether justified or not, it is a fact that a growingnumber of Internet users are reluctant to join various services on theInternet in its existing structure, as discussed above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention seeks to enhance user activity on a largecommunication network, e.g., the Internet, by creating new users andenhancing the activity of existing users, through the creation ofuser-controlled, preferably customizable, virtual entities equipped withtools designed for effective interaction on the Internet. For practicalpurposes of interacting on a global communication network, such as theInternet, the virtual entities created in accordance with the inventionmay have the same functionality and powers as real entities interactingon the Internet. By creating virtual entities in accordance with theinvention, the real users behind the virtual entities remain anonymouswhile interacting freely on the Internet and engaging in activities suchas surfing, e-mailing, shopping, chatting or any other activity offeredby Internet sites. The ability to interact with the Internet privatelyand efficiently, in accordance with the invention, is expected topromote Internet activity generally, and particularly monetarytransactions over the Internet. Although the invention is describedbelow in the context of a global communication network, it should beappreciated that the invention may also be adapted, with appropriatechanges, to any other type of communication network, such as intranets,extranets and local networks.

The phrases “real entity”, “real personality” or “real user”, as usedthroughout this application, refer to a person or a corporation seekingto interact with the Internet, including but not limited to using ane-mail account through an Internet Service Provider (“ISP”), visitingand registering to websites (i.e., surfing the Internet), registeringand transacting on an e-commerce website, engaging in an Internet site,and any other kind of Internet activity. The real entity has a realidentity, which may include a given first and last name, a mailingaddress, a billing address, a telephone number, a social securitynumber, a driver's license information, or any other informationtypically used to identify a legal entity, such as a person, acorporation or a non-profit organization.

The phrases “virtual entity”, “virtual user” and “virtual personality”,as used throughout the application, refer to an imaginary entity createdsolely for the purpose of interacting with a communication network. Thevirtual entities in accordance with the invention are preferablyimaginary and have no pre-existing functionality in the real world;however, each virtual entity preferably represents a real entity, asdefined above, and a real entity may be represented by more than onevirtual entity. As described in detail below, a virtual entity inaccordance with the invention may be provided with an e-mail account,virtual credit card information, e.g., a virtual credit card number andexpiration date, an imaginary name, an imaginary address, a virtualsocial security number, and any other data that may be required for theInternet activity of the virtual entity. Once a virtual entity iscreated, in accordance with the invention, the virtual entity preferablyinteracts on the Internet just like a real entity would interact on theInternet. For example, the virtual entity may enter a chat room andinteract with other real and/or virtual entities. The virtual entity maypurchase products and services from Web-based businesses, using paymentmethods as described herein. The virtual entity may surf the Web usingWeb-based e-mail accounts. However, the activity of the virtual entityis preferably controlled by a real entity. Thus, the personality of thereal entity, e.g., its unique interests, preferences, spending habits,or any other unique aspects of the real entity, may affect the way inwhich a corresponding virtual entity functions as an Internet user. Forexample, the real entity may seek only certain types of information orcertain types of services or transactions available on the Internet and,therefore, various personality traits of the real entity may bereflected in the virtual entity.

The system of the present invention is generally referred to herein asan Anonymous Virtual Personality Provider (AVPP). In an exemplaryembodiment of the invention, an AVPP may include an organization and/ora combination of computer hardware and/or software which providesservices according to the system and method of the invention, such as anISP, an Internet portal, financial services, shipping infrastructure, orany other system or organization that may be required in order toconduct business and/or to provide services on the Internet. Forexample, the AVPP may be an organization operating a server site orseries of server sites providing access to the Internet and/or otherservices that may be required in order to implement and manage thevirtual entities. In alternate embodiments of the invention, the AVPPmay include several organizations, or may include hardware and/orsoftware operated by one or more organization.

In accordance with an aspect of the invention, each user of the AVPP isprovided with a virtual personality, which is fundamentally separatedfrom the identity of the real user, as described in detail below. Usingthe virtual personality, the AVPP user may interact anonymously on theInternet; however, the AVPP system does not rely simply on concealinguser identities. In accordance with some aspects of the invention, thevirtual personality is provided with means for anonymously transactingon the Internet, e.g., spending money using a virtual transactionaccount, as described below. The virtual personality may also engage inany other type of Internet activity known in the art, such as chatting,surfing, building Internet sites, etc., without ever disclosing detailslinked to the identity of the real user. The virtual personality mayconduct research on the Internet, for example seeking informationrelating to a sensitive medical condition of the real user, or thevirtual personality may subscribe to various Internet services, forexample, services related to a business competitor of the real user. Thevirtual personality may also participate in “chat-rooms” or “game-rooms”or any other multi-user activities that the real user prefers to conductin privacy. Thus, the AVPP system in accordance with the inventionalleviates various concerns that are typically associated with Internetuse, such as identity theft, tracking of user activity, and otherobjective and/or psychological concerns that are prevalent amongInternet users. It should be appreciated that an environment of enhancedprivacy will promote user creativity, e-commerce and the flow ofinformation on the Internet, because privacy is an essential resourcefor many human activities. The AVPP system of the invention creates suchan environment of privacy on the Internet, as described below.

One aspect of having a virtual personality is the power ofreversibility. If something goes wrong in the Internet “life” of thevirtual entity, for example, a romantic misunderstanding or anunsuccessful business venture, the real user always has the option toreplace the virtual personality with a new virtual personality. In theprocess of building a new personality, the real user may have anopportunity to correct the mistakes of the previous virtual personality,even when interacting with the same entities. In contrast to the reallife of the user, the Internet life of the virtual personality may beeternal, and may be continued by successors of the real user. Further,two or more real users may share the same virtual personality in a jointaccount, to create a more complex virtual personality.

The AVPP system is preferably contractually obligated to maintain inconfidence any information that the real users may choose to disclose tothe VASPP, in analogy to a Swiss bank institution. Further, the AVPPdatabases are preferably not part of the negotiable assets of theorganization or organizations operating the AVPP. To accommodate userswho are extremely privacy oriented, certain categories of users may beable to limit their relationship with the AVPP, wherein real useridentities are not disclosed even to the organization or organizationsoperating the AVPP, as described below.

The AVPP in accordance with the invention implements fundamentalseparation between a user's real identity and the user's Internetidentity (i.e., the virtual personality), whereby no information linkedto the real identity is ever communicated via the Internet. According tothis concept, The AVPP preferably consists of two separate sub-systems,namely, a virtual world system and a real world system. The twosub-systems do not communicate with each other via conventional Internetconnections.

In one preferred embodiment of the invention, cash or other untraceableforms of payment, such as a money order or a negotiable bank note,collectively referred to herein as “cash equivalent”, are the only meansof communication between the real users and the AVPP. According to thisembodiment, payments by the real users to the AVPP are made in cash orcash-equivalent, at pre-designated payment sites; e.g., Internet cafes,convenience stores, vending machines, etc., and the user receives aquota of Internet buying power in the form of a prepaid transactionaccount, e.g., in the form of a virtual debit-card. The pre-paidtransaction account may be identified by an identification code, whichmay include a sequence of numerals and/or symbols physically printed onthe face of a card, or a code which is magnetically, electronically oroptically recorded on the card. The AVPP pre-paid transaction accountsmay be issued in various denominations. Additionally or alternatively,the AVPP may assign each pre-paid account with a fictional user name andfictional user information, which information may be used toauthenticate the pre-paid transaction account on the Internet wheneverthe user attempts to use the virtual transaction account through use ofa virtual personality, as described below. This embodiment of theinvention may be useful for extremely privacy-oriented users who arereluctant to disclose their real identity to anyone related to theInternet, including the AVPP.

In another preferred embodiment of the invention, a real user's identityis disclosed only to the AVPP, or to one or some of the organs of theAVPP, by conventional methods, e.g., in person, by mail, by phone, bydirect connection, etc., depending on the level of comfort of the userin using any of those conventional methods. The AVPP may then providethe user with a virtual user name and virtual user information, whichmay include an identification code as in the previous embodiment, whichmay be used over the Internet to authenticate the user. Once the realuser has been authenticated at an Internet site of the AVPP, which sitemay be accessed via standard Internet access tools, the real user mayedit the virtual user information and/or add more information related tothe virtual user. According to this embodiment, the linking between thereal user information and the virtual user information is known only tothe user and to an organ of the AVPP operating in the real world, i.e.,off the Internet. Internet-accessed organs of the AVPP communicate onlywith the virtual user and do not store any information that may betraced back to the real user.

Once a virtual user has been created at the AVPP, according to either ofthe embodiments described above, or using any other suitableimplementation of a separation between the virtual user and the realuser, the virtual user is provided with a variety of optional tools, asmay be required by a virtual entity. For example, the virtual entity maybe provided with a transaction tool, e.g., in the form of a virtualcredit or debit card number registered to the virtual entity. Thetransaction tool enables the virtual user to access Internet services,and to purchase products over the Internet at electronic retailer(“e-tailer”) sites. Using the transaction tool, the virtual entity mayalso receive payments, for example, refunds from e-tailer sites forreturned or damaged goods. The AVPP may include an accounting system incharge of issuing and billing virtual debit or credit accounts, andtracking payments credited to a given virtual user and payments made bysuch virtual user. Each virtual user account may have a spending limit,which may be based on the amount of money purchased using prepaidtransaction accounts, for completely anonymous users, or may be based oncredit rating, for those users whose identities are known to the AVPP.However, even for those users whose identities are know to the AVPP, thelinking between real identities and their corresponding virtual entitiesis accessible only within the internal accounting system of the AVPP,thereby fully protecting this crucial linking from being communicatedover the Internet.

To secure the financial interests of the AVPP and its users, againstInternet security breaches such as credit card theft, the AVPP systemmay incorporate information security solutions as are known in the art.Thus, the AVPP of the present invention does not obviate the need tophysically secure the transfer of information on the Internet. However,the added value of the AVPP system and method is in protecting userprivacy on the Internet by creating a fundamental separation between thevirtual personalities and their corresponding real life identities,whereby real user identities are not compromised even when Internetsecurity fails. This added value will become increasingly important asthe Internet grows in size and sophistication.

As described above, the AVPP users are provided with virtual transactionaccounts, which are backed by real funds or credit accounts within theAVPP system. Thus, the AVPP may provide its users with anonymous buyingpower, which may be pre-paid or backed by a credible billing system.Depending on whether the user chooses the constellation of fullanonymity or relative anonymity, as described above, the AVPP may deducta predetermined percentage from the funds made available to thetransacting virtual entity, as a commission for the services of theAVPP. In some embodiments of the invention, these commissions may beoffset by equal, or even larger, savings in the actual transactions, forexample, if the AVPP contracts with various service providers andmerchants on the Internet to lower prices due to the large number ofanonymous users operating under the AVPP. Additionally or alternatively,the AVPP may charge each user a periodic fee for handling each anonymousInternet account, which fee may be used to cover the average costs ofcredit-card fraud and other liabilities and to support additionalservices that the AVPP may offer its users.

Most transactions on the Internet do not, inherently, requireidentification of the real entity making the transaction, such as theentity's mailing address. For example, “soft products” such asdownloading software, music or video, “print-your-own” products such asuniquely bar-coded stamps or movie tickets, etc.), even hotelreservations. Such products do not require additional treatment by theAVPP once the anonymous payment method described above is implemented.However, in preferred embodiments, the AVPP also accommodatestransactions that inherently require a mailing address, for example,purchasing products that must be shipped to the customer. To accommodatesuch transactions, the AVPP may establish physical mailboxes that areassigned to subscribers, under their virtual identity and may beaccessed at locations affiliated with the AVPP. This solution may besuitable for those users who seek full anonymity, i.e., those whocommunicate with the AVPP only via transfer of cash or cash equivalent.

For users whose mailing addresses are disclosed to an organ of the AVPP,as part of the information needed to establish a transaction account,the AVPP may include a shipping division, which may be part of the realworld sub-system of the AVPP. Alternatively, the AVPP may contract witha trusted third party to handle the shipping of goods from Internetmerchants to AVPP users as follows. Each virtual user's fictionalshipping address may include a shipping code identifying the virtualuser as a member of the AVPP system. Before shipping the goods, thethird party shipper may obtain the real user's shipping address from anorgan of the AVPP directly, by providing the shipping code, whereby thereal user address is not communicated over the Internet. The shippingorganization receives the goods to be shipped from a dispatch site ofthe Internet merchant and delivers the goods to the real user. In someembodiments, the virtual user's fictional mailing address may include anindication of geographical vicinity of the real user address, so thatthe Internet merchant may be able to efficiently allocate a properdispatch site for the goods, to minimize shipping time and costs, yetwithout having access to the complete address of the user.

As described above, payments by a virtual personality over the Internetmay be in the form of a virtual credit/debit cards registered to thevirtual personality. This may be implemented using a real credit cardnumber that may be issued to the AVPP by an existing credit cardcompany. The AVPP may be directly responsible for the payment of itsvirtual users' credit card bills. For billing and credit cardauthentication purposes, each virtual credit card of an AVPP user may beregistered with the address of the AVPP and the fictional identificationinformation assigned to each user. Payment made by the AVPP on behalf ofits users may be deducted from the corresponding real users' transactionaccounts within the AVPP, and payments received by the AVPP on behalf ofits users may be added to the corresponding real users' transactionaccounts.

In some embodiments of the invention, the AVPP may create its own lineof virtual products, which may be offered to the AVPP users. In oneembodiment, the AVPP may create a series of exclusive, e.g., copyrightedand/or trademarked, virtual personalities, having predefined attributes,preferably including an audio-visual representation, that may bepurchased by the AVPP users. A buyer of such a predefined virtualpersonality may become the legal owner of the intellectual propertyrights to the virtual personality, and may use it on the Internet toengage in any of the Internet activities described above, for example,using a virtual transaction account. Additionally or alternatively, eachAVPP user may be able to construct a customized virtual entity, usingtools provided by the AVPP.

In some preferred embodiments of the invention, the AVPP may function asa portal between the real world and the virtual world, and certainelements of the AVPP system described above may follow the users duringInternet activity outside the AVPP website. For example, the AVPP mayinclude tools as are known in the art to assist users in constructingpersonalized virtual home pages, which may serve as “homes” for thevirtual entities and may host representations of other real and virtualentities. Further, a user may be able to surf the Internet using Webbrowsing software that has been modified to include features of theAVPP. Additionally or alternatively, the AVPP may provide Internetaccess to its users. The AVPP may also provide services such as a Webbrowser using state-of-the-art search engines. An AVPP in accordancewith the invention, which also provides the user's internet accessservices, may be able to protect the identities of its users even morecomprehensively, for example, by randomizing the Internet Protocol(“IP”) addresses of its users and by implementing anti-spamming and/oranti-targeting and/or proxy-server solutions as are known in the art.

There is thus provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of theinvention, a method of enabling a real entity to access a service on acommunication network using a virtual entity; the method including thesteps of establishing a user account including at least first datacorresponding to the identity of the real entity and second datacorresponding to the virtual entity and not identifying the real entity,storing the first and second data in a first database, linking betweenthe first and second data in the first database, storing the second dataat a second database, associating the second database with acommunication network site, connecting the communication network site tothe communication network, receiving the second data from anunidentified user on the communication network site, identifying theunidentified user as the virtual entity based on receiving the seconddata, and allowing the virtual entity to access the service.

Further, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of invention, thereis provided a virtual entity residing on a communication network siteand adapted to interact on a communication network on behalf of a realentity, the virtual entity including a memory having stored thereininformation defining the virtual entity, which information includes aunique user name, a password and information corresponding to a visualrepresentation of the virtual entity, and a virtual user interfaceadapted to communicate with the communication network from thecommunication network site, wherein the virtual entity is not linkable,on said communication network, to the identity of the real entity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be understood and appreciated more fully from thefollowing detailed description of preferred embodiments of the inventiontaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an overview of anAnonymous Virtual Personality Provider (AVPP) system in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention, operating over a global computercommunication network;

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a illustrating the flow of fundsthrough an AVPP system in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention, operating over a global computer communication network;

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating part of an AVPP realworld site of an AVPP system according to FIG. 1 or 2;

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an AVPP Internet siteof an AVPP system according to FIG. 1 or 2; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic pictorial illustration of a virtual user interfacegenerated by the AVPP Internet site of FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The AVPP in accordance with the invention implements fundamental andrevered separation between a user's real identity and the user'sInternet identity (i.e., the virtual personality), whereby noinformation linked to the real identity is ever communicated via theInternet. According to this concept, the AVPP preferably consists of twoseparate sub-systems, namely, a virtual world system and a real worldsystem. The two sub-systems do not communicate with each other viaconventional Internet connections. This concept is depicted in FIG. 1,which schematically illustrates an overview of an AVPP system inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention, operating inconjunction with a world wide computer communication system 12, such asthe Internet, also referred to herein as the “Web”.

The system of FIG. 1 includes an AVPP real world site 22 and an AVPPInternet site. The AVPP real world site communicates with real user 10(also referred to herein as user type “X”), who is a completelyanonymous user, and with a real user 11 (also referred to herein as usertype “Y”), who is anonymous vis-a-vis Internet 12 but is known to theAVPP real world site 22, as described in detail below. The AVPP Internetsite 24 is connected to the Internet 12 using means as are known in theart, and preferably includes an Internet server and a virtual userinterface, as described below.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, as described indetail below, users 10 and 11 may access Internet 12 using virtualpersonalities 110 and 111 which are assigned to users 10 and 11,respectively, to engage in various activities. For example, users 10 and11 may purchase goods from a website of an electronic retailer(“e-tailer”) 14, participate in chat rooms or games 16, surf the Webusing a search engine 18, as is known in the art, or interact with otherInternet users 26. In accordance with the invention, virtual usersduring their Internet activity, users 10 and 11 may be exposed to anintruder 20, defined broadly herein as an entity that may collect anduse information about users 10 or 11 for purposes not authorized byusers 10 and 11, such as for consumer targeting or for any other purposethat may be considered an invasion of the privacy of users 10 and 11.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the identity of real user 10is not disclosed to AVPP real world site 22, and cash or otheruntraceable forms of payment, such as a money order or a negotiable banknote, collectively referred to herein as “cash equivalent”, are the onlymeans of communication between real user 10 and the AVPP. According tothis embodiment, payments by real user 10 to the AVPP real world site 22are made in cash or cash-equivalent at pre-designated payment sites,e.g., Internet cafes, convenience stores, vending machines, etc., and inexchange for such payment the user may receive a quota of Internetbuying power in the form of a prepaid transaction account issued by theAVPP real world site, as described in detail below. The pre-paidtransaction account may be identified by an identification code, whichmay include a sequence of numerals and/or symbols physically printed onthe face of a card, or a code which is magnetically, electronically oroptically recorded on the card. The identification code of the pre-paidtransaction account may be attached to the virtual entity 110subsequently assigned to or created by real user 10 for Internetactivity, as described below. Once user 10 has been authenticated at awebsite of the AVPP, such as at the AVPP Internet site 24, user 10 mayfurther edit and expand the content of the virtual entity 100, asdescribed below, and edited and/or expanded information of virtual user110 may be subsequently used to authenticate user 10. Pre-paidtransaction accounts may be issued by the AVPP real world site 22 invarious denominations, such as 20 U.S. Dollars, 50 U.S. Dollars and 100U.S. Dollars, or any other denomination suitable for Internet spending.Additionally or alternatively, the AVPP real world site 22 may assignthe pre-paid account a fictional user name and fictional userinformation, which information may be used to authenticate transactionsof user 10 on the Internet using the pre-paid transaction account, asdescribed below. This embodiment of the invention may be useful forextremely privacy-oriented users who are reluctant to disclose theirreal identity to anyone related to the Internet, including the AVPP.

In contrast to real user 10, the identity of real user 11 is disclosedto the AVPP real world site 22, or to an organs of AVPP real world site22, as described below. The identity may be disclosed using conventionalmethods, of example, in person, by mail, by phone, by direct connectionthough a telephone line, or even through a secure connection over theInternet, such as a secure socket layer (“SSL”) connection, as is knownin the art, depending on the level of comfort of the user in using anyof those conventional methods. The AVPP real world site 22 may thenprovide user 11 with a virtual user name and virtual user information,which may include an identification code and other information, whichmay be later used over the Internet to authenticate the transactions ofuser 11. This information may be attached to the virtual user 111created by ort assigned to user 11. Once real user 11 has beenauthenticated at an Internet site of the AVPP, such as AVPP Internetsite 24, which site may be accessed via the Internet using conventionalInternet access tools, real user 11 may edit and/or expand the contentof the virtual user 111 and/or add more information related to virtualuser 111, which additional or edited information may subsequently usedto authenticate user 11. In this constellation, the crucial linkingbetween the identity of real user 11 and the virtual user 111 is knownonly to the user and to the AVPP real world site 22, i.e., off theInternet. The AVPP Internet site 24 communicates only with the virtualuser and does not store any information that may be traced back to thereal user. In this manner, the real information relating to user 11 isprevented from being compromised to any other entities on the Internet,even if security mechanisms of the AVPP Internet site 24 fail. This isfundamentally different from prior art systems in which user informationis secured from the Internet only by electronic means, such asencryption and communication through secure servers. In the presentsystem, real information about real user 11 is stored only in aninternal database of the AVPP real world site 22, and is notcommunicated even to the AVPP Internet site 24. All communicationbetween the AVPP real world site 22 and the AVPP Internet site 24,relating to the activity of real user 11, is based solely on theinformation included in the virtual entity 111. As explained below, theAVPP real world site and the AVPP Internet site may not be separatedphysically, for example, they may be located on separate servers of thesame system, as long as the linking between real user 11 and virtualuser 111 is stored separately and is prevented from being communicatedover the Internet.

It is appreciated, however, that the identity of user 11 may not becompletely “sealed” from the Internet, in the sense that a person withinthe AVPP real world site organization may intentionally, or by an act ofnegligence, compromise a user's identity and communicate such identityover Internet. However, a user who is concerned about privacy to such anextent, that the user is reluctant to rely even on the integrity of theAVPP system personnel, has the alternative option of subscribing to theAVPP system in total anonymity, using the model described above withreference to real user 10.

Once an account has been created at the AVPP real world site 22, foreach of real users 10 and 11, and information or a code corresponding tovirtual users 110 and 111 has been communicated to the AVPP Internetsite 24, using the method and system described above or any othersuitable implementation for a separation between virtual users realusers, the virtual users 110 and 111 are provided with a variety ofoptional tools, as may be required by a virtual entity in the context ofthe invention. For example, each of virtual entities 100 and 111 may beprovided with a transaction tool, which may be in the form of a virtualcredit or debit card number registered under the identity of the virtualentity, as described below. The transaction tool enables virtual users110 and 111 to perform transactions over the Internet, for example tosubscribe to an fee-based Internet services, or to purchase productsover the Internet, e.g., at the e-tailer site 14, without disclosingtheir true identity. Using the transaction tool, virtual entities 110and 111 may also receive payments, for example, refunds from e-tailer 14for returned or damaged goods. The AVPP real world site 22 may includean accounting system for issuing and billing virtual debit or creditaccounts, and tracking payments credited to virtual users 110 and 111and payments made by virtual users 100 and 111. Each virtual useraccount may have a spending limit, which may be based on the amount ofmoney purchased using prepaid transaction accounts, in the case oftotally anonymous user 10, or based on a credit rating, in the case ofuser 11 whose identity is known to the AVPP real world site 22. Thelinking between the real identity of real user 11 and the correspondingvirtual entity 111, for both debit and credit purposes, is accessibleonly within the internal accounting system of the AVPP, thereby fullyprotecting this crucial linking from being communicated over theInternet.

To secure the financial interests of the AVPP and its users, againstInternet security breaches such as credit card theft, the AVPP systemmay incorporate information security solutions as are known in the art.Thus, the AVPP of the present invention does not obviate the need tophysically secure the transfer of information on the Internet. However,the added value of the AVPP system and method is in protecting userprivacy on the Internet by creating a fundamental and revered separationbetween the virtual personalities and their corresponding real lifeidentities, whereby real user identities are not compromised even whenInternet security fails. This added value is expected to becomeincreasingly important as the Internet grows in size and sophistication.

As described above, users 10 and 11 are provided with virtualtransaction accounts linked to virtual entities 110 and 111,respectively, and the transaction accounts are backed by real funds orcredit accounts of users 10 and 11 within the AVPP real world site 22.Thus, the AVPP system may provide its users with anonymous buying power,which may be pre-paid or backed by a credible billing system. Using itsaccounting system, the AVPP real world site 22 may deduct apredetermined percentage from the funds made available to virtual entity110 and 111, as a commission for the services of the AVPP. Suchdeduction to the AVPP may be performed using methods known in the art.In some embodiments of the invention, the commissions paid by the usersmay be offset by equal, or even larger, savings to the users insubsequent Internet transactions, for example, if the AVPP contractswith various service providers and merchants on the Internet to lowerprices, in view of the large number of anonymous users operating underthe AVPP system. Additionally or alternatively, the AVPP may charge eachuser a periodic fee for handling each anonymous Internet account, whichfee may be used to cover the cost of credit-card fraud and otherliabilities and to support additional services that the AVPP may offerits users. This fee may also be deducted from the accounts of users 10and 11 within the AVPP accounting system.

Most transactions on the Internet do not, inherently, requireidentification of the real entity making the transaction, such as theentity's mailing address. For example, “soft products”, such asdownloading software, music or video, “print-your-own” products, such asuniquely bar-coded stamps or movie tickets, etc., even hotelreservations. Such products do not require additional treatment by theAVPP once the anonymous payment method described above is implemented.However, in preferred embodiments, the AVPP also accommodatestransactions that inherently require a mailing address, for example,purchasing products that must be shipped to the customer. To accommodatesuch transactions, the AVPP real world site 22 may establish physicalmailboxes that are assigned to subscribers, under their virtualidentity, and may be accessed at locations affiliated with the AVPP realworld site 22. This solution may be suitable for users, such as user 10,who seek full anonymity, i.e., who communicate with the AVPP only viatransfer of cash or cash equivalent.

An alternative embodiment is suitable for users whose mailing addressesare disclosed to an organ of the AVPP, such as real user 11, whosemailing addresses are disclosed as part of the information needed toestablish a transaction account. For those users, the AVPP real worldsite may include its own shipping division, which may be part of thereal world sub-system of the AVPP, or the AVPP may contract with atrusted third party shipping organization, such as FedEx®, to handle theshipping of goods from Internet merchants to real users as follows. Thefictional address of the virtual user 111 may include a shipping codeidentifying the virtual user 111 as a member of the AVPP system. Thisshipping code may then be used to retrieve the real shipping address ofuser 11 from the AVPP real world site, before the shipping order isexecuted, for example, through direct communication between the shippingorganization and the AVPP real world site 22, whereby the real useraddress is not communicated over the Internet. The shipping organizationreceives the goods to be shipped from a dispatch site of the Internetmerchant and delivers the goods to the real user 11. In someembodiments, the virtual user's fictional mailing address may includethe real zip code or some other indication of the geographical vicinityof the real user 11, so that the Internet merchant may be able toefficiently allocate a proper collection site for the goods, to minimizeshipping time and costs, but without having access to the completeaddress of the user 11. This type of shipping solution is describedbelow in conjunction with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

As described above, payments over the Internet by a virtual entity, suchas virtual entities 110 and 111, may be in the form of a virtualcredit/debit cards registered to the virtual personality 111. This maybe implemented using a real credit card number that may be issued to theAVPP by an existing credit card company, such as Visa®. The AVPP may bedirectly responsible for the payment of the credit card bills of virtualuser 111. For billing and credit card authentication purposes, eachvirtual credit or debit card issued to a user of AVPP system may beregistered at the credit card company with the address of the AVPP andthe fictional identification information assigned to each user. Paymentsmade by the AVPP on behalf of its users may be deducted from thecorresponding real users' transaction accounts within the AVPP system,and payments received by the AVPP on behalf of its users may be added tothe corresponding real users' transaction accounts. Thus, for real user11, who does not require full anonymity, the billing system isrelatively simple in structure and may be transparent to the real user11 operating under entity 111.

In some preferred embodiments of the invention, the AVPP may createvirtual entities and virtual products that may be offered to the AVPPusers. In one embodiment, the AVPP may create a series of exclusive,e.g., copyrightable and/or trademarkable copyrightable and/ortrademarkable, virtual personalities, having predefined attributes, thatmay be purchased by users 10 and 11, to replace or to be used inaddition to virtual entities 110 and 111, respectively. A buyer of sucha predefined virtual personality may become the legal owner of theintellectual property rights to the virtual personality, and may use iton the Internet to engage in any of the activities available to virtualpersonalities, for example, the predefined virtual entity may beattached by the user to an existing virtual transaction account with theAVPP or the purchased virtual entity may be assigned a separatetransaction account. Additionally or alternatively, each AVPP user maybe able to construct a customized virtual entity, using tools providedby the AVPP. For example, the user may construct an image and/or a voiceof the virtual entity, by selecting among a variety of choices madeavailable on the AVPP website, which choices may include a selection ofbody parts that may be combined into a unique image representing thevirtual entity. The virtual personalities created or acquired by users110 and 111 may be the equivalent of any real world entities, such aspeople, animals (e.g., pets), or corporations. The customized virtualentities may be used to surf the Internet, and to interact with otherreal and/or virtual entities on the Internet, being limited only bytheir imagination. However, to aid the process of establishing a solidvirtual personality, the AVPP may provide services to assist people inmaterializing their Internet dreams. Such services may include an onlinedating expert, an online business expert, an online service forautomatic translation of the language used by savvy Internet users(“e-language”), and any other tools that may improve theInternet-related skills of the virtual personalities.

In some preferred embodiments of the invention, the AVPP may function asa portal between the real world and the virtual world, and elements ofthe AVPP system described above may follow the users during theirInternet activity outside the AVPP website. Additionally oralternatively, the AVPP may include or contract with an Internet ServiceProvider (“ISP”) 15 to provide Internet access to its users, such asuser 11. Since subscribing to an ISP requires a real user's identity tobe disclosed to the ISP, users of type “X”, such as user 10, may prefernot to subscribe with any ISP. The AVPP may also provide services suchas a Web browser using state-of-the-art search engines with anonymousbrowsing capabilities, as are known in the art, for example, aproxy-server type arrangement of the type operated by Anonymizer.com®.An AVPP in accordance with the invention, which also includes an ISP,may be able to protect the identities of its users even morecomprehensively, for example, by randomizing the Internet Protocol(“IP”) addresses of its users and by implementing anti-spamming and/oranti-targeting and/or proxy-server type solutions, as are known in theart.

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates the flow of information and funds in anAVPP system according to an embodiment of the present invention. WhileFIG. 2 depict one embodiment of a system which may perform the method ofthe present invention, other systems and arrangements of components maybe used to perform such a method, and the system of the presentinvention may incorporate other systems and/or perform modified methods.The AVPP system of FIG. 2 includes the AVPP real world site 22 and theAVPP Internet site 24. The AVPP real world site includes a fundcollection site 28, a shipping processing division 34, a real userversus virtual user information database (“RU/VU”) 32 and a virtual userinformation database 36, all of which elements are discussed in moredetail below. Both the shipping processing division 34 and the fundscollection site 28 may communicate with the RU/VU database 32, toretrieve certain information therefrom and to supply other informationthereto, As explained below, the shipping processing division operate orbe associated with a shipping company, such as FedEx®, to provide theshipping company with shipping address information upon a specificrequest. Such request may include a code identifying a virtual user ofthe AVPP, and/or a virtual shipping address of the virtual user, whichinformation may be linked to a corresponding real user shipping addresswithin RU/VU database, as explained below. Thus, upon a specific requestfrom the shipping company, the shipping retrieves a real user shippingaddress from the RU/VU database 32 corresponding to the virtual userinformation or other code included in the request. This mechanismenables shipping of goods to the real user without communicating thereal user shipping address over the Internet, as demonstrated byexamples below.

When a real user 30 wishes to connect to the Internet 12, the user mayalso be connected, voluntarily or involuntarily, to various Internetsites, such as e-tailer 14, chat room 16, search engine 18 and InternetIntruder 20, hereinafter collectively referred to as Internet sites, allof which sites are described above with reference to FIG. 1. Real user30 may be a completely anonymous user, according to the model describedabove with reference to real user 10 of FIG. 1, or a user who isanonymous only vis-à-vis the Internet, according to the model describedabove with reference to user 11 of FIG. 1. By being connected with theInternet sites, user 30 may perform tasks such as “surfing the web,”using search engine 18, making purchases from E-tailers such as theE-tailer 14, or participating in chat room 16. Internet sites 14-18provide Internet related services and are connected to the Internet 12through known methods, and may include any functions and structures asare known in the art.

The real user 30 may wish to engage in such activities in an anonymousfashion. The user transmits funds, e.g., U.S. dollars, to the fundscollection site 28, which may be any organization collecting funds onbehalf of another party, such as a bank, newsstand, Internet cafe, orany other organization, or maybe part of the AVPP real world site 22, asdescribed above with reference to FIG. 1. The user may physically travelto the funds collection site or may perform the transaction in any othermanner, such as via the telephone, by mail, or by connecting to acomputer of the collection site via direct communication means such as atelephone line. In some embodiment of the invention, the user mayconnect to the funds collection site over the Internet using a securecommunication means, such as a secure socket layer (SSL) connection, asis known in the art. In exchange for the transfer of said funds, user 10may receive a funds identification code, also referred to herein as“funds ID”, which defines a virtual transaction account assigned to user30, as described above with reference to FIG. 1.

The funds identification code, may be used by user 30 to access AVPPInternet site 24, which may include an organization and/or a collectionof computer hardware and/or software enabling anonymous use of servicesprovided over the Internet, such as purchasing products or services,participating in social activities such as chat groups, or searching theWorld Wide Web (“Web”) using a search engine, or any other activities asare known in the art. Preferably, the AVPP Real world site 22 and theAVPP Internet site 24 are physically and, in some embodiments,organizationally distinct entities, as described above with reference toFIG. 1. The AVPP real world site 22 may connect directly with a user toperform functions that require knowledge of the true identity of theuser, such as account set up and maintenance. The AVPP Internet siteinteracts with the user via the Internet to perform functions requiringanonymity, such as surfing, purchasing goods, research, participating inchat rooms, etc., as described above with reference to FIG. 1.

Reference is now made also to FIG. 3, which schematically illustratespart of the AVPP real world site of FIG. 2 in more detail. In anexemplary embodiment, the AVPP real world site 22 includes the RU/VUdatabase 32 and the virtual user information database 36, and the AVPPInternet site includes a virtual personality database 40 and a Webserver 38. For each user, such as user 30, there exists a real userentry in RU/VU 32 linked to a corresponding virtual entity entry inRU/VU 32. For example, real user 10 (FIG. 1) has a real user entry 210and a corresponding virtual user entry 310, and real user 11 (FIG. 1)has a real user entry 211 and a corresponding virtual user entry 311.Preferably, the real user entry 211 includes identifying information ofuser 11, such as first and last name, shipping and billing addresses,real credit card number, and/or any other information that may benecessary in order to process payments from and/or transfer funds touser 11. In contrast, the real user entry 210 does not include anyidentifying information about user 10, as this information is notavailable from user 10 who purchased a transaction account for cash orcash equivalent. Instead, the real user entry 210 may include only theamount of money user has remaining in the transaction account purchased,as well as the funds ID mentioned above.

The virtual user entries 310 and 311 preferably include virtual profilesof users 10 and 11, respectively, as well as the funds ID code of eachuser, or any information that may be required in order to authenticatethe Internet transactions and other activities of users 10 and 11 on theInternet. This information is not related to the identity of users 10and 11 and, in some embodiments of the invention, this information maybe altered periodically by the AVPP system to avoid fraud. Each virtualuser entry preferably also includes a virtual transaction account numberand an account balance, e.g., in U.S. Dollars, for the purpose ofprocessing the virtual transaction accounts of the users, as describedabove with reference to FIG. 1. The virtual information may also includea virtual e-mail address, and a virtual user access ID (“username”) andvirtual user password. The virtual user profiles may further includeinformation that may be added by the users 10 and 11 at the AVPPInternet site 24 to reflect the personalities each user wishes topresent on the Internet, for the purpose of their activity as virtualusers 110 and 111, respectively. For example, a virtual entry mayinclude imaginary personality characteristics, physical characteristics,an imaginary profession and preferences, etc., as described below withreference to virtual personality database 40 of FIG. 4. However, anysuch additional information that is not required necessary for theprocess of authenticating the transactions of virtual users 110 and 11may be omitted from the virtual user entries. Such additionalinformation may still be included in the virtual personality profiles ofusers 110 and 111 in the virtual personality database 40, as describedbelow. Each real user entry in the RU/VU database 32 is preferablylinked to a corresponding virtual user entry, for example, entry 210 ispreferably linked to entry 310 and entry 211 is linked preferably toentry 311, using a reference or pointer as is known in the art. Thislinking is the crucial linking between real users and virtual users thatthe present invention seeks to protect from undesired disclosure overthe Internet.

The virtual user entries, for example, entries 310 and 311, arepreferably also included, in whole or in part, in the virtual userdatabase 36, and stored as virtual user entries 410 and 411,respectively. The virtual user site 36 may function essentially as a“privacy buffer” between the AVPP real world site 2 and the AVPPInternet site 24, and assists in preventing access fro the Internet toreal user information even when the security of AVPP Internet site 24 iscompromised, as explained in detail below. Virtual user entries 410 and411 may be generally identical to virtual user entries 210 and 211,respectively; however, at a given point in time, database 32 may not befully updated with changes in database 32, and vice versa. This isbecause databases 32 and 36 are separate and distinct and may beperiodically updated to reflect changes in either or both database onlyaccording to a special update protocol, as described in detail below.Further, since some of the imaginary information in the virtual userprofiles is not required for authentication purposes, certain types ofinformation may be included only in database 32 or only in database 36,depending on the specific system design.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the RU/VU database 32 andthe virtual user database 36 are electronically separated and distinctand may communicate with each other only though use of a special safelinking protocol that enables mutual updating of the two databasesthrough safe update links 42 and 44. In a preferred embodiment of theinvention, updating through links 42 and 44 may be performed only whenthe connection between virtual user database 36 and a virtualpersonality database 40 at the AVPP Internet site (FIG. 2) istemporarily halted for a period of time required by the periodic update.This may be achieved by using electronic switching mechanisms as areknow in the art switch the connection between database 36 and database40 “off” before switching “on” the updates through links 42 and 44. Oncean update is complete, the connection between database 36 and database40 may be reinstated. The optimal time between updates and the timerequired for each update may be determined based on the specific systemrequirements and system traffic. For example, the update time may dependon the amount of new information normally transferred during an update,and may increase if the time between updates is increased. The timebetween updates may depend on business requirements, such as areasonable time that user 30 should wait after transferring funds to thefunds collection site 28 until a new balance is available on the user'svirtual transaction account at the AVPP Internet site 24.

It should be appreciated that the update protocol described above, andthe use of switching mechanisms, is given as an example only todemonstrate a fundamental separation between the AVPP Internet site andthe sensitive linking between real users and virtual entities at theAVPP real world site. However, any other means known in the art forseparating information databases may be equally, or even more suitable,for the purpose of separating between RU/VU database 32 and virtual userdatabase 36.

It should be noted that any reference above or below to the separationbetween AVPP real world site 22 and AVPP Internet site 24 should beunderstood to mean separation between organs of the AVPP system at whichreal user information may be stored and organs of the AVPP system thatmay communicate with the Internet and should, therefore, not have onlineaccess to real user information. The physical location of each elementof the AVPP system is not significant. For example, in some embodimentsof the invention, the virtual user database may be omitted and otherarrangements may be made to safely update information between RU/VU 32and virtual personality database 40 of AVPP Internet, such as theapplying the above described switching mechanisms to allow communicationbetween databases 40 and 36 only when communication between database 40and AVPP Web server 38 is halted.

Reference is now also made to FIG. 4, which schematically illustratesthe AVPP Internet site in more detail. For each user, such as users 10and 11, a virtual entity entry exists in the virtual personalitydatabase, such as virtual entity 110 and virtual entity 111,respectively. Each virtual entity profile preferably includes thevirtual transaction account information described above, and the accountbalance. Each virtual transaction account is preferably linked to a realcredit card or debit card number, issued to the AVPP by an establishedcredit card company, e.g., Visa® or American Express

It should be appreciated that a virtual transaction account number (or“virtual transaction ID”) need not be a credit card number, and may beof a different form, such as a debit card number or any identificationcorresponding to a user's real or virtual identity allowing funds to betransferred between the AVPP and another entity, such as e-tailer 14 orthe party issuing credit to the AVPP organization, such as a credit cardcompany or a bank.

As mentioned above, in an exemplary embodiment, the AVPP Internet siteincludes virtual personality database 40. Preferably, the virtualpersonality database stored at the AVPP Internet site mirrors thevirtual information database 36 stored at the AVPP reality site, and thetwo databases are continuously updated with changes in either database.To access a virtual user account at AVPP Internet site, a real user mayuse the virtual user access ID and virtual user password stored in thevirtual personality database 40. Then, using the virtual entity storedin the virtual personality database 40, the user may anonymously accessthe Internet and anonymously interact with Internet entities, such asInternet sites 14-18, without being concerned about revealing real userinformation to third parties, such as intruder 20, simply because thevirtual user profile used does not include any information that may belinked to the real user. For example, users 10 and 11 may use thevirtual entities 110 and 111, respectively, to interact with e-tailer14, other users 26, Web browser 18, or chat room 16. If intruder 20seeks to collect information about users 110 and 111, the informationavailable to intruder 20 only that which is stored in virtual entities110 and 111, and so the privacy of users 10 and 11 is protected. Even ifthe virtual transaction accounts of users 110 and 111 are compromised tointruder 20, for example, in case of security failure at AVPP Internetsite 24, the real identities of real users 10 and 11 are stillprotected.

The AVPP Internet site 24 preferably includes an e-mail server,preferably a Web-based email server 60, as is known in the art, whichreceives and sends e-mails for e-mail accounts corresponding to thevirtual e-mail addresses included in the virtual entities stored indatabase 40, such as virtual entities 110 and 111. The AVPP Internetsite preferably also includes software 46 for processing the anonymoustransaction of the virtual user accounts, as described in detail above.The AVPP Internet site may include modules providing other functionalityto users, such as an anonymous browser 58, chat rooms or “communityactivity rooms” 48 designed specifically for virtual personalities,tools for building customizable home pages 54, and/or tools for editingthe virtual personality 52. Most of these functionalities are describesabove and below, in various contexts, and may be implemented usingsoftware and/or hardware solutions known in the art, or may be developedusing software development tools known in the art.

The virtual personality editing tool 52 may include software to enableusers create visual representations of their virtual entities, in two orthree dimensions, end to store such images as part of the virtual userprofile, whereby each user may create a unique image to represent thevirtual entity on the AVPP website or, possibly, on other websites thatmay be equipped with software tools for displaying such images. In someembodiments, the virtual entities may also include informationcorresponding to a desired voice pattern of the virtual entity, and thisvoice may be used for interaction with other Internet entities, wherebyone real user may be able to view the virtual entity of another realuser and listen to its voice. Software tools for converting typing ofwords on a personal computer to audible speech from a virtual characterare known in the art, and such tool may be incorporated in to the AVPPsystem of the present invention. The personalized home pages 54 may beuseful for users who wish to host other real or virtual Internetentities in a personalized environment. In a preferred embodiment of theinvention, each virtual entity may be able to interact with othervirtual entities at the AVPP Internet site 24, or at personalizedenvironments or, depending on Internet standardization, even on websitesnot related to the AVPP system. In such interaction, one virtual entitymay transfer information from its virtual profile to another virtualentity, and vice versa, for example, using a “file transfer” tool as isknown in the art. In this manner, virtual personalities may share orexchange information in the virtual world, and may get to “know” oneanother. Such interactions are even more meaningful when they areaccompanied by a memory function. It should be appreciated that once avirtual entity in accordance with the invention is created, such virtualentity interacts on the Internet exactly like a real user and,therefore, there are essentially no limits to the type and scope ofinteraction available to virtual entities on the Internet.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, as shown in FIG. 4, eachvirtual entity may have a personal virtual memory, which may be part ofthe virtual personality entry in virtual personality database 40, forexample, virtual entity 110 or 111. This memory enables virtual entities110 and 111 to memorize various interactions for the benefit of users 10and 11, respectively. For example, each virtual entity may includerecords of the entity's surfing history, its spending history, thecontent of conversations with other virtual entities and real users,and/or any other information that may be useful for future interactionof the virtual entity on behalf of the real user. Collection of suchinformation by the virtual entity on behalf of the real user isparticularly helpful to users who resent the practice of Internet sitescollecting information about their surfing and shopping habits. Suchusers typically choose to disable “cookies” from being implanted ontheir personal computer and employ other means to protect themselvesfrom being targeted by service providers and merchants on the Internet.As explained above, the AVPP Internet site preferably includesadditional means to protect users from such targeting. For example,anonymous browser 58 may include a proxy-serve type system or any othersystem or method known in the art for concealing the IP address of thereal users. However, a user disabling “cookies” or otherwise concealingthe identity of the computer from which the user is communication mayhave the disadvantage of not keeping track of past activities, whereasusers who allow cookies have the advantage of being reminded of pastactivity whenever they visit the websites using the “cookies”.Therefore, having a virtual entity in accordance with the presentinvention that “remembers” the activity of the real user on theInternet, as described above, enables the users to enjoy both worlds,namely, to keep records of the user's activity on the Internet withoutdisclosing the user's surfing and shopping habits to undesireddestinations.

Referring briefly to FIG. 2, as described above, user 30 may connect viaInternet 12 to AVPP Internet site 24 and, via AVPP Internet site 24, toInternet sites 14-18. User 30 is preferably connected to the Internet 12through a user terminal, which, in an exemplary embodiment, is apersonal computer of known construction. Such a user terminal preferablyincludes a modem or other equipment for establishing and maintaining aconnection to an ISP, for connecting the user to the Internet 12, andfor allowing the transfer of data from and to the user's computer. Thepersonal computer is preferably associated with a monitor or otherdisplay device. A user software module, such as an Internet browser(e.g., the Netscape® Navigator), operates the user terminal, andoperates a user interface during a remote session with an entity such asone of Internet sites 14-18, or with the AVPP Internet site 24. The userterminal may include augmentation modules such as cookies, Java applets,or plug-ins; however, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, theAVPP system may disable some or all of those modules to enhance privacy,as discussed above. Internet sites 14-18 typically use client/serversoftware to provide a variety of services and functions. Preferably,each Internet site 12-18 includes a server module including software andequipment to provide a user interface to the user software module and toaccept user input from the user software module. In alternateembodiments, the equipment, terminals or software used by user 30 toaccess the AVPP Internet site 24, or Internet sites 14-18, may be ofother configurations.

Referring again to FIG. 4, the AVPP Internet site 24 site includes a Webserver 56, generating a Web based user interface, as described below,and a controller 50 which controls the overall operation of AVPPInternet site 24, including the transfer of information into and out ofthe virtual entities in virtual personality database 40, and includingthe transactions processing system 46 described above. In an exemplaryembodiment, the Web server 56 and controller 50 may be implemented usingunits including Intel™; processors. The Web server 56 may include, forexample, software implementing Web server functionality and operating onthe Linux operating system, and controller 50 may operate on the Linuxoperating system. In an exemplary embodiment, the virtual personalitydatabase 40 includes a Unix server on which an Oracle™ database mayoperate. Preferably, the controller 50 is associated with thetransaction processing system 46, storing billing and contactinformation for the virtual users, such as virtual users 110 and 111.The transaction processing system 46 may generate billing information,transmit bills, record account information, and provide other client orpartner related services.

The AVPP Internet site 24 may connect to the Internet 12 via knownmethods, such as via redundant Cisco™; switches and Cisco™; routersconnected to DS3 lines. Known security systems may be used, includingequipment such as firewalls.

In alternate embodiments, the various functions performed by the AVPPreal world site 22 and the AVPP Internet site 24 may be implementedusing different equipment and software, may be combined into differentfunctional units, and may omit certain functionality or includeadditional functionality, without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention. For example, the AVPP real world site 22 and AVPPInternet site 24 may be combined at one physical location, with barriersbetween the real user information and virtual user informationimplemented via hardware and/or software controls, as described above,or other hardware/software controls known in the art, or not implementedat all, depending on specific design requirements.

Returning to FIG. 2, during operation of the AVPP system, user 30provides funds or billing information to the funds collection site 28,and receives in return a funds ID, as described above. The funds ID maybe a number and/or character sequence corresponding to a monetaryamount, as describe above, or to a billing authorization based on theuser's credit card limit, and the amount may be stored by the AVPP realworld site 22 in the corresponding real user entry of RU/VU database 32.In some embodiments, the amount or limit of funds stored by the AVPP maybe refilled by referencing the funds ID when the user transfers newfunds or authorizes the billing of new funds. Upon such new transfer offunds or billing authorization, user 30 may refill the transactionaccount of the virtual entity using the same funds ID. The funds ID maybe changed periodically for security purposes, in which case the usermay receive a new funds ID which replaces the previous funds ID afterthe user's next visit to the AVPP Internet site. For example, user 30may purchase a pre-printed credit card sized marker bearing the funds IDfrom a newsstand or Internet Café. In alternate embodiments, the fundscollection site need not be included; for example, user 30 may transmitfunds directly to the AVPP system, as described in detail above.

Reference is again made to FIG. 3. As described above, user 30 mayestablish one of two types of accounts with the AVPP system. The accountmay be fully anonymous, in that the AVPP system has no information thatcan be traced to the user, as explained above with reference to user 10of FIG. 1, or the account may be partially anonymous, in that the AVPPsystem does include information which can be traced to the user, asexplained above with reference to user 11 of FIG. 1. In either case,user anonymity when accessing the Internet is protected, as discussed indetail above. In the case of “full” anonymity, the real user entry inRU/VU 32 may include only the amount of money remaining, and the virtualuser entry may include the funds ID code and, possibly, additionalimaginary information defining a virtual entity, for example, a genericvirtual personality that may be subsequently edited by the user. In caseof a “partially” anonymous user, the real user entry in RU/VU 32includes identifying information corresponding to the user, such asfirst and last name, billing and shipping address, credit card numberand expiration date, while the virtual user entry in RU/VU 32 includesthe funds ID code and imaginary information defining the virtual entity.As described above, the imaginary information may be initially blank, orgeneric information may be initially provided, and the user maysubsequently edit this information through use of the AVPP Internet site24.

Upon establishing an account, using any of the methods described above,such as in person, by phone, or through a SSL connection to an organ ofthe AVPP real world system, such as funds collection site 28, the AVPPsystem may issue to the user a virtual username (or access ID), and avirtual user password, which are stored at the virtual user entry inRU/VU 32. Thereafter, the virtual user access ID and password may beused by the user to interact with the AVPP Internet site in an anonymousmanner. However, once the user logs on to the AVPP Internet site 24, theuser may change the username and password, subject to availability ofthe new user name, as is known in the art. The new username and passwordis then updated within the AVPP system using the mechanisms describedabove, and so databases 36 and 32 of the AVPP real world site are alsoupdated.

Without the information in the real user entry, 210 or 211, which isstored in the RU/VU database 32, and which corresponds to the real user,the virtual user access ID cannot be easily used to trace the identityof the user, as described in detail above. In the case of a completelyanonymous user 10, such as user 10, no information exists in any of thedatabases operated by the AVPP system that be used to trace the identityof the user. Preferably, if the user desires, the virtual userinformation in databases 32, 36 and 40 is customizable by the user tocorrespond to a “personality” of the virtual user entry that the userwishes to present. For example, user 30 may choose to be “King Henry”,and may provide additional information about this “make believe”character, such as virtual date of birth, virtual address, and thepreferences of the “make believe” character in music, arts, science,etc., or any other information that the AVPP Internet site may bedesigned to receive. Some of the information may completely fictional,and some of the information may be real, for example, user 30 may preferto have a virtual personality similar to the real personality, yetsufficiently different to protect the user's privacy. The virtual e-mailaddress of user 30 may either be randomly generated by the AVPP or maybe customizable by the user. In some embodiments, the user may controlthe appearance and even the voice of the virtual entity, as described indetail above.

To implement the transaction accounts described above, each registereduser of the AVPP system may be assigned a transaction ID by the AVPP,which may correspond to the number of the credit/debit card describedabove. The transaction ID may be used by user 30 to make purchases orcollect funds in an anonymous manner from Internet sites. If the userexpects to receive funds, for example, funds collected by the AVPP onbehalf of the user from Internet sites, such funds may be added to thebalance of the user's transaction account with the AVPP system. Thetransaction ID is preferably a credit card number registered with acredit card company or bank in the name of the organization operatingthe AVPP or an affiliate organization, as described above. Theorganization operating the AVPP or an affiliate organization may make anarrangement with a bank or other organization issuing transaction ID'sto issue a certain number of transaction ID's in the name of theorganization operating the AVPP or an affiliate organization, and tohave such organization be responsible for the payment of chargesassociated with the transaction ID's. The AVPP in turn issues suchtransaction ID's to its users, as described above.

When making purchases via the Internet, the user may use its assignedtransaction ID. A charge is registered with the transaction ID, and therelevant credit card company or bank bills the organization operatingthe AVPP. The AVPP organization, in turn, debits the user accountcorresponding to the user, which has been funded using a funds ID, acredit card, or other methods, as described above. In such a manner auser may make payments to an Internet organization, and the paymentwould be difficult to trace back to the user. This allows the user thefreedom to shop on the Internet without taking the risk of beingexposed, for example, if user 30 wishes to discreetly purchase productsof a business competitor.

After a user account has been created for user 30, the user may accessInternet sites via the AVPP Internet site, as described above. The userestablishes a connection to the Internet 12, and connects to the AVPPInternet site 24, as described above, using a user terminal softwaremodule, such as Netscape Navigator®. Using the user terminal softwaremodule, user 30 connect to the AVPP Internet site 24 using knownmethods, e.g., by providing the user software module with the uniformresource locator (“URL”) of the Web server 56 at the AVPP Internet site.The AVPP Internet site website provided by the Web server 56 (FIG. 4)typically provides the user with a series of website screens, which mayinclude audio and video capability, and accepts information, includingtext, audio, and video, from the user terminal.

Reference is now made to FIG. 5, which schematically illustrates avirtual interface provided to a user upon logging on to the AVPPInternet site. The user logs on to the AVPP Internet site by presentingthe virtual user access ID and virtual user access password to the AVPPInternet website. The user is then presented with an interface allowingthe user to perform functions specific to the AVPP Internet site, aswell as to access Internet sites. The user interface includes a borderor frame area 64, which provides an interface for the user to performfunctions such as maintenance of an anonymous virtual transactionaccount 72, accessing a virtual e-mail account 74 corresponding to theuser's virtual e-mail address, editing a virtual personality profile 76and viewing/editing an image 68 which represents the virtualpersonality, all of which functions are described above in detail. Theborder r frame area 64 surrounds an anonymous browsing area 70, in whichthe user may access Internet sites in an anonymous manner. For example,to access e-tailer 14, the user enters the URL corresponding to thee-tailer in a field 62 of the AVPP Internet site, the website of thee-tailer is presented in the browsing area 70, and the user may interactwith the website. The virtual entity's user name, such as “King Henry”,or any other information from the virtual user entry in the AVPPdatabases may be displayed in a specified field 66. By scrolling throughentries in field 66, user 30 may choose a different virtual entity for agiven session. It should be appreciated that although the presentinvention does require user 30 to have more than one virtualpersonality, user 30 may nonetheless establish more than one anonymousaccount with the AVPP, wherein each account may be represented by adifferent virtual entity. Using multiple virtual entities, the user mayplay different roles on the Internet or present different personalitiesto different entities or in different situations, e.g., a man mightpretend to be a woman, or vice versa, in a situation where a person ofthe opposite sex might gain a certain advantage. For example, a womanmight feel more comfortable being a virtual “man” when participating ina “chat” about auto-mechanics, and a man might feel more comfortablebeing a virtual “woman” in a chat about cooking, or vice versa.

User input, such as keystrokes, is transmitted from the user terminal tothe AVPP Internet site, and from the AVPP Internet site to the e-tailer.Preferably, no direct connection between the user terminal and e-tailerexists. Similarly, display information, such as text, graphics, or audioor video information, and in addition soft products such as software oraudio recordings, may be transmitted from the AVPP Internet site to theuser terminal. The user may access any other Internet site, such as theInternet sites 14-18 described above. According to an embodiment of theinvention, when interacting with the Internet sites, the user uses onlyidentity or personality information corresponding to the virtual entity,as stored in database 40 (FIG. 4), and preferably no informationcorresponding to the real user's identity.

In a typical Internet user session, using current systems and methods, asite visited by a user may request and record personal or identifyinginformation regarding the user, such as a user's name, address,telephone numbers and e-mail address. Often such information is aprerequisite for use of Internet sites, for example, a user may berequired to enter an e-mail address to access an otherwise freedatabase. According to an embodiment of the system and method of thepresent invention, the information a user presents to an Internet sitewhen using the AVPP Internet site is the virtual identity stored at thevirtual user entry in virtual personality database 40. This informationis imaginary and cannot be traced back to real user 30 and, thus, thereal user may avoid the potentially adverse repercussions of disclosingreal information to an untrusted website. Further, since the virtualentity is readily available from the virtual personality database, theuser does not need to spend valuable time inventing false information tosubmit to the website. In some preferred embodiments of the invention,the virtual entity information stored in the virtual personalitydatabase 40 may be uploaded automatically to the website requesting theinformation, using link 78 on the AVPP Internet site user interface.This aspect of the invention may be implemented based on existingsoftware solutions for automatic form filling. Such software solutionsexist for filling out forms automatically on many internet sites, andare designed and used for filling out correct information; however; itwill be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that such softwaresolutions are equally suitable for filling out the virtual userinformation in accordance with the present invention, and that suchsoftware solutions may be incorporated into the AVPP system with onlyminor modifications. It should be noted that although there is more thanone standard on the Internet for filling out forms, and althoughdifferent websites may use different types of virtual user interface,the automatic form-filling feature of the present invention would stillbenefit the users in most situations.

While in current systems a user may present false information to anInternet site, such as a false name, e-mail address or credit cardinformation, the user will not gain the full benefit of the site to theextent that the Internet site actually uses such information. Forexample, a false credit card number will not be authorized by any creditcard company, and is thus not useful to purchase goods or services, andinformation the user desires which is sent to a false e-mail addresswill not reach the user. According to the system and method of thepresent invention, the virtual identity stored in the virtual user entryincludes “false” information, such as a virtual transaction ID orvirtual e-mail address, which are on the one hand valid items ofinformation, but which on the other hand are not easily traceable to theuser who “owns” the virtual information. When interacting with Internetsites, the Internet sites may transmit information to a virtual e-mailaddress or exchange funds with a virtual transaction ID. In order toaccess the information, products or funds thus transmitted, the userinteracts only with the AVPP Internet site 24, thereby preserving theuser's anonymity.

For example, after logging on to the AVPP Internet site and accessed ane-tailer as described above, user 30 may wish to purchase a “soft”product such as an audio or video recording that maybe downloaded fromthe e-tailer for a fee. The user 30 interacts with the e-tailer in aknown manner, but when asked for identifying information entersidentifying information corresponding to the virtual entity stored inthe virtual personality database, including the virtual transactionaccount information. The e-tailer uses the virtual transaction ID toaccess the proper amount of funds. For example, in the case that thevirtual transaction ID is a valid credit card number, the e-tailercharges the credit card number via known methods, and the correspondingcredit card company debits the credit card account, which is preferablyin the name of the organization operating or associated with the AVPPInternet site. The amount of the transaction is debited to the virtualtransaction account of the user in the AVPP databases, as discussed indetail above. Once the transaction has been authorized by the creditcard company, and preferably also by the AVPP transaction processingsystem described above, the e-tailer releases the “soft” product, i.e.,enables the user to download the “soft” product. Neither the exchange offunds nor the exchange of goods allows the e-tailer access toinformation which may identify the user. In addition, the transfer offunds and goods or services in the above manner does not allow access tothe information by entities other than the e-tailer, for example,intruder 20.

Alternatively, user 30 may wish to purchase from the e-tailer goods thatrequire shipping, such as a book or toaster. The user interacts with thee-tailer in a known manner, but when asked for identifying informationenters identifying information corresponding to the virtual entitystored in the virtual personality database, including the virtualtransaction account information and the virtual shipping address.However, the virtual entity preferably includes a correct entry for thezip code of the real user, as described above with reference to FIGS. 1and 2. The e-tailer uses the virtual transaction ID to access the properamount of funds. For example, in the case that the virtual transactionID is a valid credit card number, the e-tailer charges the credit cardnumber via known methods, the corresponding credit card company debitsthe credit card account, which is preferably in the name of theorganization operating or associated with the AVPP Internet site. Theamount of the transaction is debited to the virtual transaction accountof the user in the AVPP databases, as discussed in detail above. Oncethe transaction has been authorized by the credit card company, andpreferably also by the AVPP transaction processing system describedabove, the e-tailer prepares the product for shipping at the optimaldispatch site, because the e-tailer has the correct zip code for thereal user's shipping address, but the e-tailor does not know who user 30is or the destination address for the goods. The shipping company, whichpreferably operates or is associated with the AVPP real world siteorganization, as described above, identifies the shipment as being for auser of the AVPP system and sends the virtual shipping-address to theshipping processing division 34 of the AVPP real world site 22 (FIG. 2).The shipping processing division 34 retrieves the correct shippingaddress of the user from the real user entry in the RU/VU database,based on the virtual user shipping address sent from the shippingcompany, and sends the correct shipping address back to the shippingcompany. The shipping company then ships the goods from the optimaldispatch site to the correct shipping address of user 30. As in theprevious example, neither the exchange of funds nor the exchange ofgoods allows the e-tailer access to information which may identify theuser. In addition, the transfer of funds and goods or services in theabove manner does not allow access to the information by entities otherthan the e-tailer, for example, intruder 20. Further, the shippingsystem, which may include both the shipping division 34 of the AVPP realworld site 22 and a third party shipper, does not operate over standardinternet connections and, therefore, the user 30 is not exposed to agreater privacy risk than in an equivalent off-Internet shippingsituation, e.g., if the goods were ordered in person at a store or overthe telephone. It should be appreciated that other implementation of ananonymous or partially anonymous shipping system, for example, theprovision of a physical mailbox registered to the virtual entity, asdescribed above, are also within the scope of the present invention.

It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the AVPP systemof the present invention also enables the user 30 to privately engage inany other Internet interaction, specifically, interactions that do notrequire transfer of funds and/or goods between the user and otherentities, such as chatting, surfing, e-mailing, building websites, etc.,using a virtual identity, without compromising the real userinformation.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the presentinvention is not limited by the specific preferred embodiments of theinvention described above with reference to the accompanying drawing.Rather, the present invention is limited only by the following claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A device comprising: a memory having storedtherein virtual entity information defining a virtual entity configuredfor interaction on a communication network on behalf of a real entity,wherein said virtual entity information is not linkable, on saidcommunication network, to the real identity of said real entity; aprocessor to process said virtual entity information; and acommunication interface to communicate said virtual entity informationwith one or more sites of said communication network.
 2. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the virtual entity information includes informationcorresponding to one or more attributes representing the virtual entity.3. The device of claim 2, wherein the information corresponding to theone or more attributes comprises information corresponding to an imagerepresenting the virtual entity.
 4. The device of claim 2, wherein theinformation corresponding to the one or more attributes comprisesinformation corresponding to an audio attribute of the virtual entity.5. The device of claim 1, wherein the virtual entity informationcomprises information corresponding to a virtual transaction accountassigned to the virtual entity, the virtual transaction accountincluding information sufficient to perform a transaction of monetaryvalue at said one or more sites of the communication network, andwherein said virtual transaction account is not linkable over saidcommunication network to the identity of said real entity.
 6. The deviceof claim 5, wherein the information corresponding to the virtualtransaction account comprises information corresponding to a creditaccount assigned to said virtual entity.
 7. The device of claim 5comprising a display to display at least part of the informationcorresponding to the virtual transaction account assigned to saidvirtual entity.
 8. The device of claim 5, wherein the device is adaptedto communicate over said communication network with a transactionprocessing server that is able to authorize and process said transactionof monetary value at said one or more sites based on at least part ofthe information corresponding to the virtual transaction accountassigned to said virtual entity.
 9. The device of claim 1 comprising auser interface to enable said real entity to control the interaction ofthe virtual entity on said communication network.
 10. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the virtual entity information includes a uniqueusername and a password, and wherein said username and password arerequired to allow said real entity to access the virtual entityinformation.
 11. The device of claim 1 comprising a display to displayat least part of said virtual entity information.
 12. An apparatus toenable a virtual entity to interact on a communication network on behalfof a real entity, the apparatus comprising: a memory having storedtherein information defining a virtual transaction account assigned tosaid virtual entity, to enable said virtual entity to transact at one ormore sites of said communication network on behalf of said real entity,wherein the virtual transaction account includes virtual transactioninformation sufficient to perform a transaction of real monetary valueat said one or more sites, and wherein said virtual transactioninformation is not linkable over said communication network to the realidentity of said real entity; and a processor to access said virtualtransaction account as necessary to enable performing said transactionof monetary value.
 13. The apparatus of claim 12 comprising acommunication interface to communicate with said communication networkand to send said virtual transaction information over said communicationnetwork.
 14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the virtual transactionaccount includes a pre-paid virtual transaction account.
 15. Theapparatus of claim 12, wherein the virtual transaction informationcomprises credit account information.
 16. The apparatus of claim 15comprising a display to display at least part of said credit accountinformation.
 17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the virtual creditaccount information is not linkable, on said communication network, toreal credit account information of said real entity.
 18. The apparatusof claim 15, wherein the virtual credit account information comprises acredit card number and an expiration date.
 19. The apparatus of claim 12comprising a display to display at least part of said virtualtransaction information.
 20. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein theapparatus is adapted to communicate over said communication network witha transaction processing server that is able to authorize and processsaid transaction of monetary value at said one or more sites based on atleast part of the information corresponding to the virtual transactionaccount assigned to said virtual entity.